


Social Self-Experimentation

by Pixelle



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: (giggle) hi~ :3, F/M, Fluff, Friendship, Insecurity, always pair the dorks, playing the long game with this one kinda, real talk tho how am i still the first to this ship it's been two months, the secret is: they're all dorks
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-12
Updated: 2019-02-10
Packaged: 2019-10-08 15:11:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,846
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17388710
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pixelle/pseuds/Pixelle
Summary: In the name of the (Kingdom of Bright) Moon, Princess Glimmer has begun inviting newly recruited members of the Etherian Princess Alliance over for diplomatic visits.On paper, this is a good idea. In practice, it means inviting Princess Entrapta at some point.Neither Glimmer nor Bow are prepared for this. Or Entrapta, for that matter.(Pre-Princess Prom.)





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey there, fellow dork-lovers! Welcome to my latest crazy experiment!  
> Couple notes for those who were ADVENTUROUS enough to click on this:
> 
> \- This is a pet project I started plotting literally the day the show dropped back in November, and knowing how slow I am it'll probably be done _next _November. -_- Maybe earlier if Season 2 gets a date, because I don't want any loose ends in my fics by the time we get new plot stuff.__
> 
> \- This is also the product of someone who's watched System Failure four times as much as they've watched the rest of the show. I've got it _bad_ , folks. Don't worry, I promise I'll still get tons of minor and major details wrong despite my experience and best efforts!
> 
> \- Finally, this whole shebang takes place in a nebulous time-space I'm creating in between System Failure and Princess Prom where stuff is... like... halfway peaceful. Much as I adore(a) everything about SatPoP, my heart has still yet to fully come to terms with Entrapta's career shift, and thus I'd like to write her surrounded by blue skies and supportive princesses ~~and _not_ Catra~~ just a little while longer before I have to start writing Fright Zone stuff full-time. ^^;
> 
> Enjoy the show as it persists. There are candy arrows and tiny purple heart-shaped cakes in the corner.
> 
> * * *

Princess Entrapta of Dryl was sleeping, and all around her was tranquil, quiet, metallic, technological bliss.

As she slept, a small spherical robot popped out of a nearby box, with a bell in its hand. It floated up and over to Entrapta, and rang it in front of her face for several seconds.

Entrapta didn't stir.

The robot stopped ringing the bell, and stayed in one place, seemingly in thought, before grabbing even more bells from its box, and ringing them at once while flying around Entrapta's head.

"Mmmmmm...." Entrapta seemed to stir, for just a few moments. "Shrink ray... waffles... _perfection_..." she muttered... before turning over in bed and continuing to sleep.

The robot stayed still for a short while, then pulsed, sending a signal to an infrared receiver on the wall. A blaring klaxon sounded, complete with industrial-brightness red lights that would pierce anyone's vision, whether their eyes were closed or not.

Entrapta stayed sound asleep, as the klaxons blared for two whole minutes.

The robot stopped the alarms, banged its head on a nearby table, then floated slowly over to Entrapta's face, and tapped one of its appendages towards her cheek.

The gentle touch of cold metal against Princess Entrapta's face, at long last, allowed her to peacefully awaken her from her slumber.

 _"Wha? Whoa! Who goes there?_ " Entrapta shouted, leaping five feet from the bed she'd been sleeping on, barely missing hitting the ceiling in the process, and smacking the robot to parts unknown with her hair. " _So help me, I have a scalpel that can cut through any substance or body part you can care to name and and I'm not afraid to use it—"_

Entrapta landed back on the bed, realizing that all was still quiet. She looked around, irises and vision spinning, before groaning in exhaustion, and grabbing her recorder from the small table next to her.

"Personal progress note: new self-maintenance drones not really working up to spec. Specifically, they're too..." she glared at the tiny, dented robot on the floor, still cringing from it having slammed into the wall. "...aggressive. New course of action: look into more effective, yet subtle ways to wake up. Like... I don't know. Some kind of blaring alarm." She paused, her finger on her chin in thought, then added, "Maybe with flashing red lights."

Entrapta turned off her recorder, took a deep breath, straightened herself, and crawled out of bed. "Computer, where are we?" she asked, wiping sleep drool off her face with her wrist.

"Approaching Bright Moon Castle," a deep male voice droned.

Entrapta sat at the edge of her bed with a start. " _Whoa,_ already?" In three smooth movements, she hopped to her feet, opened her mobile laboratory's sunroof, and used her prehensile ponytails to boost herself through it and look outside.

Entrapta smiled wide as she marveled at the shiniest castle she'd ever seen in her life standing in the far distance. Of course, two castles was probably a small lifetime sample set, but it didn't make the statement false or anything.

She lifted herself out of her sunroof, and clambered around her surroundings with her hair, checking if anything had transpired during the night that required her attention. The metallic shine of wheel-less, hovering, metallic-gray-and-purple mobile home-slash-lab was still in perfect shape, devoid of any dents. Which was good, since she'd spent all of her pre-trip time buffing out the ones from previous experimental journeys. She went back inside, and took stock of her main room. Everything was in order here too. Nothing else to do now, but...

"Oh! Right!" She snapped her fingers. "Last thing on my list: at least for today, I need to look all, uh, princess-y."

She slammed her hands on the nearby dresser-drawer, grinning enthusiastically into the mirror before her. "Operation 'Look Out, Etheria, Here Comes Entrapta Like You've Never Seen Her Before' is go!"

\---

Two hours later, after doing her daily body workout (which included jumping jacks and jogging around the Whispering Woods), her daily _ponytail_ workout (which involved lifting weighted dumbbells to her favorite techno beats far away from the Whispering Woods), a long hot shower (with hot water provided by a nearby river and Etheria's only portable First-Ones-crystal-powered water heating and purification unit), a "quick" hair care session (forty-five minutes: a new personal record!), Entrapta was ready.

Almost.

She whisked open her closet, revealing a long line of identical (to the untrained eye, of course) purple overalls and white shirts. After careful consideration, she made sure to pick the _purple_ overalls, and the white shirt with the perfectly placed oil stain—the one that looked like a tiny kitty if you stared at it for just long enough, but not so long that it instead started looking like an... oil stain.

Her goggles were always last. Entrapta snapped them on her head, while once more grinning in the mirror. Finally, she picked up her tape recorder again, now ready to make history.

"Bright Moon Expedition Log, Day One, Hour One. As we speak, I am getting ready to make my first real diplomatic visit, as a real Etherian Princess!"

She stopped.

"Wait. Haven't I _always_ been a 'real Etherian princess'?"

She walked to a nearby swivel chair, and sat upside down in it, resting her back on its seat and draping her legs over its back. "Sure, but... this is the first time it's mattered, I guess?"

Entrapta's smile shrank, her expression becoming equal parts thoughtful and pensive. She blinked, and used her hair to propel herself right-side-up in the chair.

"Wow, yeah. This is the first time in a long time that it's really, truly mattered. Never looked at it that way before. Never really had to. Only now does it occur to me that I..." She idly spun in her chair. "...don't know how any of this is supposed to work."

Entrapta fell silent, every single one of her brain cells working in parallel to process this new revelation.

Less than a minute later, she was levitating herself—and the chair—up into the air via spinning ponytails.

 _"And that's what makes this so interesting!_ " she squealed, stilting herself out of her sunroof again. She stood on top of the vehicle's roof, holding her recorder as if it were a microphone, and she was the lead singer in a concert. "By my calculations, there's a whole sixty-five-point-twenty-three percent chance that I'm totally gonna _crash and burn_ this, and make myself a complete embarrassment to the Alliance! Which would probably be bad in the long run, don't get me wrong—but observing the reactions in the moment would be _fascinating and totally worth!_ "

With arms outstretched, Entrapta cackled as defiantly and loudly as she could for a full ten seconds, before calming down, returning back to her seat, and sighing. She picked up the recorder again.

"Then again, maybe they won't be mad? I mean, I am going to be visiting the people who came to visit _me_ not too long ago. In fact, they're the ones who invited me. Maybe they're still... nice."

Briefly, Entrapta remembered her three recent visitors—the quirky blonde girl with the sword (who was supposedly the world's greatest warrior or something?), the energetic purple girl with the helpful teleports and the sparkles she was technically still studying...

...and Bow. With the, uh, bow. Who, had, well, saved her life. Technically twice.

And seemed to actually be able to keep up with her.

And who had professed a liking to her life's work.

And who had kissed her hair when they'd first met.

And who had proven to be pretty light and fun to hold in her hair.

And hadn't complained one bit while being held.

Her hair hadn't complained one bit, either. Nor had she.

...what was she thinking about, again?

Entrapta sagged in her chair, a lazy smile crawling across her face. Suddenly, she wasn't sure if she wanted to be an embarrassment after all. At least, not so quickly.

She rose from her chair, took a deep breath, and readied herself for her arrival.

"To be continued when more data presents itself. I mean, they're probably still nice. If nothing else, they've got to be way more mellow about this visit than I am."


	2. Chapter 2

A large and _almost_ arrow-shaped hunk of metal clattered against a wall.

"No, no, _no!_ " a frustrated voice echoed across the Bright Moon Castle basement chamber as the metal clanked to the ground, joining a pile of parts which were just as mangled. "None of this is working!"

Bow clutched the sides of his head with both hands, groaned, and laid his forehead on the table. "Seriously, why do all of you pick today, of all days, to not work? Why do you pick when it actually matters?"

Glimmer tiptoed through the doorway, coming up behind him. "Bow, is that you? I... heard noise. Like, bad noise. Like you were in pain, or something."

"I _am_ in pain, Glimmer," Bow said, placing the back of his hand against his forehead, mock-dramatically. "A pain which cannot be measured by physical metrics."

Glimmer tilted her head. "What are you talking about? What are you doing down here?" She walked up next to Bow, and stared at him. "Hang on. Have you even slept?"

Bow looked down at his wrinkled lab coat, which had accumulated several mild splotches on it from the activity of the last few hours. A heaviness washed over him as he looked at the piles of mangled objects—each signifying a failed hypothesis—around his workshop.

It was only then he realized that maybe he looked as utterly exhausted as he felt.

"O-of course I did," Bow said. "I just... slept in here. And... maybe woke up three hours ago?"

Glimmer's eyes widened. "You woke up at _noon?_ "

"Well, yeah, because I was working on this stuff last night, too, so I didn't get to bed until—"

Glimmer held up a hand. "Do _not_ finish that sentence, I don't want to know. But you do know today’s a big day, right? Princess Entrapta’s coming to visit and everything!"

"Exactly! Which means I have to make sure I'm ready for her! We _all_ have to make sure we're ready for her!" Bow darted over to Glimmer, gripping her shoulders. "Are _you_ ready for her?"

"Well, yeah," Glimmer said. "Of course I am."

Bow blinked. "Well, I'm not! Maybe I never was!" He gestured around the room, full of scattered blueprints, gears, and arrow points, and which still carried the smell of grease. "Because nothing I have in here is giving me any hope towards that being the case anymore!"

Glimmer sighed. "Bow, not gonna lie, starting to have the teensiest bit of second thoughtage about convincing my mom to let you have this workspace." She took Bow by the hand, and walked him over to a nearby wall.

"Look just... Calm down. Please," she said, caressing Bow’s arm and smiling up at him reassuringly. "Tell me what's the matter? Cause I've never seen you this wound up, literally ever."

Bow took a deep breath, looking into Glimmer's eyes. For a few moments he wondered if it were okay to do just that. If there would be any consequences. If Glimmer would laugh, or think he was being silly.

Then he remembered that this was _Glimmer_ in front of him. If he couldn't tell her, then who _could_ he trust, really?

"Okay," he said, relaxing with a sigh of his own. "I've told you about the Etherian Makers Community, right?"

"Sure." Glimmer tapped her index fingers together in recollection. "Network of super-geeks spread out all across Etheria, doing the whole science and tech thing. You know, while the other ninety percent of the world manages to make do just fine with magic and nature, all without rocking the boat." Glimmer grinned.

And _there_ it was. Glimmer was beyond trustworthy, and she rarely laughed at anything Bow confided in her, but she also had a knack for fashioning herself as a stand-up comedian at the worst times. "Uh huh," Bow said, rolling his eyes and giving Glimmer a slanted look.

"Awww, Bow." Glimmer giggled, winked, and squeezed Bow's arm. "I'm kidding, of course! You’re all super-hardcore, and that's amazing. Well, I think it is? I’ve only ever met one of you, and that's all I have to form my opinion on."

Glimmer was also impossible to _get_ mad at, let alone stay mad at. Bow simply nodded in response. "Technically, you’ve met two by now."

"Huh? Who?" Glimmer's eyebrows furrowed, and she scratched her head—then gasped with a snap of her fingers. "Oh, my gosh! You mean, Princess Entrapta herself is one of you?"

Bow nodded. "Right. Well, in all but name."

"What do you mean?" Glimmer asked.

Bow walked to one of his lab tables, placed his hands on the counter, and looked across his wall-mounted diagrams and specifications sheets. Glimmer followed him, and stood by his side.

"There aren't a lot of us in the Guild," Bow said, "but there are enough of us to matter, and you wouldn’t believe who was a part of it if I just told you names. Either way, like any good network, we exchange information. Messages, specs, blueprints, experiment results, locations of rare resources..."

Glimmer nodded. "And here I thought you came up with all of your trick arrow designs all by yourself."

"Nah, only most of them. The network can be inspiring, sometimes." Bow smiled, and continued. "Every once in a while, though, something comes through the pipeline that blows the Guild's minds. Advanced enough that it sends ripples through the whole community and completely changes the way we do things. And even though these findings are always anonymously submitted, we eventually figured out that they _always_ come from Princess Entrapta. She's way ahead of the rest of us, and there are so many things we never would have learned about Etheria, and especially the First Ones, without her involvement."

"Whoa." Glimmer gasped. "I didn't think it was possible, but that means she's an even bigger deal than I already thought she was!"

Bow sighed with a small smile. "Seriously. I haven't even told anyone I've met her, yet. I mean, what would I even say? Heck, what would _they_ say?"

Glimmer giggled again. "I guess I could see how that could be a little weird. But..."

"Buuuut..." Bow continued.

Glimmer shrugged. "But I'm still confused. All of this, including everything about Princess Entrapta, sounds like _good_ stuff. So why did I walk in on you halfway towards a nervous breakdown?"

Bow turned to Glimmer, looking into her eyes. "You all but said it yourself just now: Bright Moon is full of princesses, of magicians, people in touch with the earth. But I'm the one here who's into science and tech."

"Which helps round out Bright Moon's skill set," Glimmer said, nodding.

"And since Entrapta's into that too, I figured that would make a great impression diplomatically. If I can show her that Bright Moon can communicate on her wavelength, then we can impress her, and..." Bow sighed. "Well, that was the plan, anyway. Plans are only good when they have half a chance of working, though—" He stopped as he heard Glimmer's trademark giggling. "See? This is exactly why I was afraid of telling you all this!"

Glimmer's giggles trailed off. "I'm not laughing at you, Bow. Just circumstances. Usually I'm the one who's spastic, and you have to calm me down." She clasped Bow's hand with both of hers. "I guess I'm a little tickled that I finally get to be the supportive one."

Bow leaned back against the lab table and chuckled, shaking his head. "Oh. Okay, yeah, that's fair, I guess. Sorry about that."

"Are you kidding? I'm happy to do this! To be the one to tell you that I've totally been where you are—and that I already know that you don't have anything to be afraid of. You're seriously scared of not being able to impress Princess Entrapta? The girl whose life you saved, like, twice? And then you totally worked in sync to bring down that evil First Ones tech?" Glimmer sparred with an invisible enemy in front of herself. "You're practically the whole reason she agreed to join the Alliance in the first place!"

Bow felt his face going hot. "O-okay, didn't count on _that_ much cheering up."

Glimmer grinned wide. "Hey, I'm good at what I do. And so are you, dude! So don't worry. Spinnerella, Netossa and I will handle all the 'protocol'-type stuff. Meanwhile, you? You just be your awesome self. Because, honestly?" Glimmer hesitated before finishing with, "We'll both have to be."

Bow looked at Glimmer. "Are you all right?"

Glimmer shook her head. "I'm fine. It's just that since I'm in charge of this visit, I'm trying to think of a way to approach it that's different from how she would do it. But we can talk more about that when you're presentable. Go shower and change. You may be awesome, but awesome isn't immune to BO. And don't worry. We've got each others' back, right? Just like always?"

Bow nodded and smiled. "Of course. Just like always."

"Sweet." The two shook hands, then morphed the gesture into a mutual fist bump. "Best Friend Squad has this in the bag."

Bow's eyes sparkled. "You used my group name!"

Glimmer walked to the door. "The Great And Powerful Glimmer can be benevolent sometimes." She waved as she walked out.

"Hey, Glimmer?"

Glimmer poked her head back in.

"Thanks," Bow said.

"None needed," Glimmer said, as the two met eyes, and smiles, one last time.

Glimmer left, and Bow turned his attention to the mess in his workshop. Fortunately, with his mind clearer, and his heart calmer, cleaning things up would be a trivial matter.

Maybe there was a chance of things working out, after all.

The tiniest one.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WELP GUESS I GOTTA GET THIS DONE BEFORE APRIL NOW WHOOO OKAY LET'S GO NO BRAKES~

Entrapta sat on her bed, fiddling with electrician's tools and a random circuit board, when the low voice of her mobile lab's announcement system spoke once again.

"Bright Moon Castle, now twenty yards ahead," it said.

Entrapta stopped what she was doing. She closed her eyes, put down the circuit board and tools, took a deep breath, and sighed.

"Guess it's now or never."

She walked to her dresser, dug in a drawer, and grabbed an old, frayed book, titled _Regal and Royal: A Guide to Being A Perfect Princess._

She'd found it in the library archives of Castle Dryl one day. She'd almost thrown it out the moment she'd unearthed it, for the same reason she had urges to throw it out right now: she never was much for the image on the cover. It was a young woman, with her head held high, wearing a _very_ ornate dress and a tiara that looked heavy.

Everything about her was just... so clean. Not the good kind of clean, where you smelled nice and maybe, for once, looked like you _hadn't_ been wrestling with the laws of physics and chemistry all night. The other kind of clean. Restrained, clean. Flavorless clean.

_Boring_ clean.

But... well, if this was what it took to help free Etheria, enough that she could plumb every single iota of the depths of the knowledge it contained (oh, and, uh, people being liberated from awful things like political imprisonment and literal slavery were wonderful, too, sure) then she'd go ahead and do it.

So many people of the world would never know the sacrifices Princess Entrapta was about to make for them right now.

As her mobile lab hovered its way across Bright Moon Castle's moat bridge, Entrapta practiced her entrance one last time, in front of the mirror.

_Head, held high. Posture, rigid and straight. Eye level with everyone. No sudden movements involving hair. Or hands. Or any undignified movements of any kind, really. Practice flowing your wrists. Curtsying, always. Walk with one foot in front of the other—_

Her vehicle stopped. Entrapta went to a window and looked outside. She was out of road. A golden yellow column towered before her.

Entrapta stared at it, confused. She hadn't been told about this when invited. Was it some kind of puzzle? Maybe a trick door? Wouldn't be a bad security measure. Maybe she'd build one for her castle.

As she was in the middle of figuring out the most diplomatic way to knock down the tower—and perhaps allow its collapse to create some makeshift steps to the entrance above—she heard a hum, and her surroundings glowed with a bright, crystalline, lavender hue.

And then _everything_ slowly rose off of the ground. Entrapta found herself being lifted, through no effort of her own, or even of the vast scientific resources located in her lab.

This was _magic_.

Entrapta sighed. One day she would get used to magic. Today, though, she would just have to fake it.

_All right, Entrapta,_ she psyched herself up as her mobile-lab-slash-second-home floated upwards. _No,_ Princess _Entrapta! Remember your title._

The levitating stopped, and she found herself with one more bridge to cross, this one, as golden as the column. She gave the command for her vehicle to do so, while continuing to remind herself of every platitude she could think of.

_You are a princess. You are proud. You are regal._

The bridge was crossed, and the doors of the castle opened before her. Trumpets sounded from areas Entrapta couldn't locate. Entrapta stepped out of her mobile lab.

_You are dignified. You are..._

"Now introducing, Princess Entrapta of the kingdom of Dryl!" a cheery female voice proclaimed, from the same parts unknown as the trumpets.

The wall in front of her slid away, and a glistening hallway greeted Entrapta—a hallway which encouraged her to crane her neck to try and find its end, with zero success.

_Lost,_ Entrapta finally concluded. _I am very, very lost._

The next thing Entrapta saw was a girl in sparkling regal attire, walking through that hallway towards her. As she came closer, walking with a practiced, measured air, Entrapta could see that she wore a full-length blue and lavender dress which shimmered in the light.

There it was. That uncomfortable image. Right down to the tiara which, she had to admit, looked better on this mystery girl that it ever would have on her.

Entrapta's insincts screamed for her to step back, to keep her distance. She would have listened to them, except that this mystery girl was looking more and more familiar the closer she approached.

Finally, the girl spoke.

"Princess Entrapta! I'm so happy you were able to make it," she said with a curtsy. "Welcome to Bright Moon."

Entrapta blinked.

Oh.

Duh. _Now_ she knew who this was. The distinctive pink hair style, the adorably diminutive stature... Entrapta rubbed her eyes. She couldn't help it. "Glimmer?" she said, staring.

"Yep, it's me—" Glimmer said, before morphing into a confused stare of her own. "Wait, what do you mean, 'Glimmer'?" she asked, gesturing with jazz hands.

"Sorry," Entrapta said. "It's just that, we've only met once before, so I didn't recognize you all dressed up. You look really nice, though."

Glimmer's smile returned, with a blush to boot. Whew. Crisis averted. _Entrapta, you smooth smoother-over, you._

"Thanks. And, yeah," Glimmer said, putting a hand behind her head. "Usually my mom handles these diplomatic visits, and I'm trying to do the whole 'good impression' thing. Is it working?"

"You've definitely got the 'impression' part down," Entrapta said, before remembering her manners and clearing her throat. "What I mean to say is, I'm honored to enter the abode of such a gracious hostess."

"And we're glad to have you here." Glimmer held out her hands and stepped forward, then stopped. "Wait, just checking: are you a hugger?"

Entrapta blinked. "A what?"

"You know. Someone who's okay with hugging people."

"I mean, hugging is a thing I know how to do and have done before, but—oh!" Entrapta was stopped short by Glimmer's embrace. Which wasn't so bad, really. A little tingly. She chalked it up to Glimmer's usually _literally_ sparkling personality. More study was needed. Of Glimmer's sparkles, that was. And sooner than later.

"No worries," Glimmer said. "That's how we greet people here in Bright Moon: with a smile, and a gesture that says, 'you are welcome, and you are accepted'."

"Oooooh. Good to know." On reflex, Entrapta _almost_ reached for her tape recorder before remembering: no sudden, weird movements. She sighed in defeat, wondering if it were possible to sneak out and grab a mini-notebook, when another person rounded the hallway towards her.

Another person she _immediately_ very much recognized, from his adorably scruffy hair to that _daring_ midriff that even Entrapta wasn't brave enough to try, to his confident, welcoming stride.

_Speaking of impressions._

"Princess Entrapta," Bow said upon catching up to her, "I'm so glad you could grace our kingdom with your intellectual presence."

Both Glimmer and Bow had unique looks to them, but Bow's ensemble overall was sort of impossible to forget, really.

Still, Entrapta now realized in hindsight that those differences had been easier to miss when fighting for one's life against renegade tech. Now, in much better light and more easygoing circumstances... well, the ensemble was striking. His eyes were deep and caring. His smile was striking. And his hand, which he'd been holding out for some time now, was _not_ striking or caring in fact it wasn't moving really _right_ _this was one of those diplomatic greeting things that she was totally failing at now right on cue._

Entrapta snapped herself back to reality and shook his hand—with her real hand, this time. "Hi, Bow. Nice to see you again."

"Likewise." He chuckled. "I hope your enjoy your visit! If it helps, Bright Moon doesn't have much First Ones tech to its name, so I can assure you that nothing here will rise up and try to kill us," he added with a wink.

"Ha! Well, _that's_ boring," Entrapta said, feeling light and happy all of a sudden. "Not that I don't like us being alive. It comes in handy sometimes."

Bow laughed outright—and Entrapta squealed on the inside. And almost the outside, too, but _manners. Super important._ Speaking of which, if she wasn't able to use her recorder to take note of important customs, then she was just going to have to learn them via good old-fashioned habit! She stepped in front of Bow. "So, hey: are you a hugger?"

Bow wasted no time _growing_ his smile, and giving an enthusiastic nod. "I sure am! There's nothing I like better!"

"Done!" Without skipping a beat, Entrapta grabbed Bow with her ponytails, pulling him in and squeezing him against herself. Closer, warmer, _happier—_

"Entrapta..." she heard Bow's voice just then, very faint, and very strained. "Crushing... me..."

She looked at Bow's adorable head, and saw it turning a weird color. Strange. Her machines loved it when she—oh, _right!_

"Whoa, sorry about that," Entrapta said, letting go and watching him fall to the floor. "I keep forgetting: human bone, _way_ less durable than what I'm used to interacting with," she said, half wishing that a hole would open up under her and swallow her back into the castle moat. Sadly, no such event transpired.

"No, no, it's okay," Bow said, picking himself up with a nervous chuckle and several deep breaths. "Don't worry, hugs take a lot to get the hang of. For now, though, if you'll follow us, we'll show you around the place."

With a long, silent sigh, Entrapta followed Bow and Glimmer, glad that what was most likely the _easiest_ of the hard parts was finally over.


	4. Chapter 4

As promised, Glimmer and Bow led Entrapta through Bright Moon Castle's halls, while Glimmer pointed to multiple doors on each side.

"So, over here's the deluxe rooms, including ones for guests—you're totally welcome to one if you want," Glimmer said, pointing several doors on the left side. "Over here's the game room—Bow and I are total rivals when it comes to target practice. He's getting better, though."

"You wish. Oooh, ooh, and over here's the war room!" Bow added, pointing to a doorway on the right. "We haven't really gotten a whole lot of _war_ done yet, but I'm hoping the Alliance can change that. With, uh, as little war as possible, of course."

"Of course," Entrapta said, half-listening, but still taking in every sight she could. She wondered how many of these hallways were in her castle. She was sure she used to know. At one point. Maybe.

For some reason, it... hurt to try and remember. Her mind always went into a throbbing haze whenever she thought too hard about it. Always better to think about other things instead. Like the next scientific breakthrough.

_Always the next scientific breakthrough..._

"But the point is, we are, like, _so_ glad you're here!" Glimmer rushed back in front of Entrapta, cutting into the latter's trance.

"Huh?" Entrapta said, doing her best to recover the moment. "R-right! Right, yeah, glaaaaad to be here," she said, with an embarrassed laugh. "So I, uh, noticed you just passed the big war meeting room thingy? That's cool," she said, with a hasty bow. "I mean, I would be honored to discuss matters mutually beneficial to our countries."

Glimmer and Bow met her with blank stares.

_Uh oh._

"Entrapta?" Bow asked.

"Yeeesss?" Entrapta gulped, doing her best to not visibly sweat.

Glimmer's blank stare gave way to a warm smile, and a hand on Entrapta's shoulder. "It's okay. This is my first time doing this—I'm nervous too." She thumbed towards Bow. "And you should have _seen_ _this_ guy when I told him you were coming! So much running around. So much frantic prep! So much _blushing,_ " she said, elbowing him in his midriff.

Bow gasped. "So much _lying!_ " he said, before his face tinted beet red. "I can't believe it. I really _can't_ talk to you about anything!"

"Sure you can! But your face is telling me way more than your words ever did!" Laughing, Glimmer hiked up her gown and took off running down the hall.

" _Traitor!_ " Bow exclaimed, giving chase as his and Glimmer's laughter echoed down the hall. "You're dead to me, now and forever!"

Entrapta watched the two chase each other through Bright Moon Castle's halls for almost a minute—a very tension-breaking minute that she was glad to have, as she felt her muscles relaxing, and her heart slowing to something approaching a normal rhythm, just before Glimmer came back, catching her breath.

Bow followed behind, launching into a gentle noogie-ing. "Apologize for betraying my trust!" he demanded.

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry!" Glimmer said, straightening herself and her hair when Bow let go. "Sheesh, mental note, teasing is bad tactics when wearing a royal dress. I can barely move in this getup." She looked back up at Entrapta, her smile returned. "But yeah—as you can see, there's no reason to stand on ceremony. Neither of us are, and my mom isn't even here. She's doing her own diplomatic stuff. Adora's with her, too."

Adora? Wait, that was another name Entrapta knew! "The sword-girl, right?" she asked, snapping her fingers. "Instant butt-kicking warrior, just add water?"

"Yep!" Glimmer crowed, hands on hips. "She's my mom's escort muscle! Point is, I'm in charge for the next few days, and we did _not_ call you here with my _parents gone_ to do boring political discussion."

"We called you here to enjoy yourself!" Bow said.

"Huh?" It took everything Entrapta had for her eyes not to go swirled again in confusion. "But you said you wanted to see what my kindgom had to offer yours."

"We technically do, but we've sort of seen that," Glimmer replied with a wry grin. "Killer as it may have been when we visited your castle, your tech provided a pretty good resume. But we didn't get to know _you_ very well."

"So we're here now, because getting to know people is what we do." Bow's grin was less wry, and far more giddy. "Okay, I can't hold it in anymore! I can't believe I finally get to spend time with the gadget legend herself!" Bow darted forward, clasping his hands in front of him with an entranced expression on his face. "What new theories have you devised? What new things have you invented?" He pointed in the direction of the castle entrance. " _What's that totally sweet ride you came in?_ "

"Easy there, fanboy," Glimmer said, tugging Bow back.

Bow's face went red again. "Oh, gosh, I'm so sorry!"

Entrapta shook her head, and it took a while to notice her cheek muscles stretching, or how she was flushing with flattery. Clearly the giddiness was contagious. Then again, no one had really called her a legend before. Or much of anything else, really.

Of course, not being around _people_ very often might have something to do with that.

"No, no, it's seriously okay," she said, flashing Bow an earnest, appreciative smile. "I get to hear so little feedback due to my lifestyle, so it's nice to have some. Especially when it's so... enthusiastic." She put her fingers to her chin, her eyes glinting. "Hmmmm. You said you were a fan of my work when we first met, too. I've been wondering what that was about ever since."

"Yeah, I'm a bit of a tinkerer," Bow said. "Got a bit of a lab going, myself—"

The next thing Entrapta knew, her ponytails were wrapped around Bow again, and her fists were clutching his shoulders, for all they were worth.

" _Did you say lab?_ " she breathed, her voice laced with mania.

Bow's response to this new embrace was similar to the one he had towards Entrapta's previous attempt. "I, uh, well, it's not much, but..."

Entrapta's eyes and mouth went wide as she stared at Bow, still clutching. A new laboratory? One she didn't already know every inch of? One undoubtedly infused with the personality and skill of a fellow scientist, and a fan, besides? This was worth at least _three_ social experiments, and that was before they got down to any actual science!

What was _with_ this boy? Sure, good-looking, sure, great adventurer... but _this_ too?

"Uh... gonna need my shirt," Bow said, his eyes darting back and forth. "Also, my spleen."

"Right, right, sorry," Entrapta said, letting go and settling back down. At this point, 'no sudden movements' was clearly a lost cause. "I, um, would see this lab of yours! If we have time on the tour, of course."

"Oh, we can do it right now!" Glimmer grinned. "Dinner's not for a few hours yet—you've got tons of time to watch Bow be a big nerd."

"Dead to me," Bow said.

"And haunting you from the grave," Glimmer shot back.

With a dramatic sigh, Bow beckoned. "Guess we're heading to the basement. This way, please."


End file.
